Before the Storm Writers's Reddit AMA
Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the writing team of Life is Strange: Before the Storm from Deck Nine Games took place on April 26, 2018.Reddit AMA Announcement "We recently set out some giant non-lethal mouse traps and loaded them up with established worlds that were missing backstory. We came back a few days later to find we'd trapped a small group of writers, nibbling on plot hooks and character development. Despite our best efforts, they've categorically refused to remake the original Life Is Strange but this time with Rachel around because, in their words, 'oh God, oh God, can you imagine the ship wars?'. After some tense negotiations, we settled on letting them go under the condition they do an AMA for us. Also, they wanted more bacon. One of them managed to escape early on, so here are the ones that will be answering your questions: *Jonathan Zimmerman *Mallory Littleton *Felice Kuan On Thursday (April 26) at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 18:00 CEST we will slide a single laptop into their room with a plate of bacon and see if we can't get some good answers out of them."AMA Announcement -DuckOfDuckness Opening Statement "Hey Life is Strange community! We're Jon, Felice, and Mallory, the writers on Before the Storm. We're really excited to answer your questions! You can find us on Twitter: Jon - @DeckNine_JonZim Felice - @DeckNine_Felice Mallory - @DeckNine_Mal Ask us all the things!" Answered Questions fairymascot asked: Hey, guys! Thanks so much for doing this, you rock! 1) Could you shed some light on the writing process? We all know the part where you sit around a big ol' table and brainstorm ideas on a whiteboard, but what happens next? Are you each responsible for writing specific scenes based on the points you've decided on, or...? 2) What are some lines/ideas that you were personally responsible for that you're really proud of? 3) What was the most fun part of working on the game for you? What was the most frustrating? 4) What's your overall favorite part of BTS? 5) Are there any ideas you came up with that didn't get included in the final version? Can you share? 6) Controversy hour: interpretations of Rachel Amber vary between 'troubled but well-meaning girl who genuinely loves Chloe' and 'a dangerous manipulator whose relationship with Chloe primarily resulted from a combination of unfortunate circumstances in both their lives'. Where do each of you fall on that scale? 7) What kind of stories would you like to write in the future? Hope that's not too many questions, haha. Have a great day! DeckNineWriters: "Hey! Can't get to all of these atm, but hopefully some are answered elsewhere. 1) Once we finish the break (the part with the table and the whiteboard), we create what's called the narrative arc. This is where all the ideas are written in prose and the episode as a whole really comes together. From there, we divide up the scenes and write drafts. It may seem like the writing of each scene happens independently from the others, but we're always reviewing each other's work and keeping the big picture in mind. Furthermore, smaller pieces of a scene (such as posters, text messages, and graffiti) might be added in later by a different writer. Lastly, the entire script gets a consistency and polish pass by Zak. Every scene really is a team effort! 6) Our interpretation of Rachel is that she is the kind of person who can be everything to everyone. That guided our writing of her more than attempting to diagnose her motives, and allowed us to fall for her the way Chloe (and hopefully the player) did." Jossi55: "Hey guys Thanks for doing this Ama. My question is about the ending scene. That scene was controversial , but I guess you know that. Some Loved it, some hated it. Personally i loved it. But If you look back at it now, would you Change that scene or even delete it Completely? Or do you Think it was still the right decision And it was necessary?" DeckNineWriters: "This is something we have thought about often since the episode's release. The idea that any part of the story we told was hurtful for any player is devastating to us. But to answer your question, no, ultimately, we would not change the scene. BtS does not exist in a vacuum; it is a story about a character who, unfortunately, experiences great tragedy in her life. What we hoped for with BtS, maybe above all else, is that players would get to experience the joy and triumph in Chloe's life preceding all of the pain. Maybe that makes Rachel's death more tragic, but we hope the ending--Chloe's heroism plus the epilogue--reflects the full story of Chloe." flyingcircusdog: "What were the most difficult choices to make during the process? Things like choosing where the story was going, what to keep in vs cut out, etc. Were there any big scenes you had to leave out of the final game?" DeckNineWriters: "Every line we write creates hours of work for cinematics and animation, so we had to keep that in mind throughout the process. In particular, side character plots sometimes had to be trimmed significantly, which was always a hard decision. As for big scenes that had to be cut, one of our favorites was a backtalk that Chloe had with herself in the mirror of the junkyard shack, where she battled her deepest insecurities and fears. We loved the idea of Chloe backtalking herself and thought the Success and Fail outcomes shaded the next scene with Rachel in different emotional ways. " Kyle203: "I really enjoyed your work in Before The Storm. Really one of the best games I've ever played. Thank you for this game and for doing the AMA on the LiS Reddit! Any inspiration other than the original LiS on making Rachel Amber character traits, such as act, speak, etc. Is there any specific reason why the dark room scene was added after that happy montage of Chloe and Rachel at the end of EP3? I know some have said it was just a reminder to what happened to Rachel, but still thought I'd ask. Also was there a any reasoning to why the game only covered the first three days of Rachel and Chloe's, friendship/ relationship? I guess the same reason would apply for it being three episodes. After the release of EP3, a lot of things were showing up about cut content. Scenes and dialogue were mentioned, but I remember something about multiple endings and choices. Any truth to that? Do you think there is ever going to be a Before the Storm 2 from Deck Nine? Maybe as playable Rachel? I would enjoy having another game with Rach to learn more about her, even if it's before she met Chloe or something like that. And if not an entire other game, possibly DLC for a few more episodes to tie loose ends on the Arcadia Bay- Rachel, Chloe, Max story? Even if there isn't a BtS 2 or some sort of continuation of the Arcadia Bay LiS story, would you be interested in creating your own set of characters, setting for a different LiS game or any story game in general. Favorite line or scene of Before the Storm? Like I said earlier, I really enjoyed BtS and I'm looking forward to whatever all of the awesome team D9 does next. Hope you all have a great day! :)" DeckNineWriters: "Hey, thanks for these! Sorry we can't get to everything. 1) We generally kept three things in mind when writing Rachel. First, she SEES Chloe -- she openly observes and comments on her, which is huge for Chloe because it tells her that she matters. Second, she's vulnerable. There's cracks to her perfect exterior, and she allows Chloe to see those cracks, which both makes Rachel more interesting and appealing and gives Chloe purpose and someone to care about. Lastly, we made her as alluring and full of as many fun, crazy ideas as we could think of. 3) Because we love Chloe and wanted to tell a story with her as the hero, we needed to find the right moment in her life to tell that story. The beginning of her relationship with Rachel seemed like the perfect opportunity for that. 4) No, the ending you see is pretty much the one we were working with from the beginning, even if some details shifted along the way. We love how the community engages with the game, and we don't see it as our place to respond to any specific rumors or claims. That said, we were fortunate to be able to tell exactly the story we wanted to tell, Ep3 very much included." TotalLegitREMIX: "I only have one question, and it is burning at me. What are your guy's thoughts on David Madsen? Never in video gaming has a character given me such mixed feelings before. On one hand, he reminds me of my dad so I hate him, on another, he reminds me of my dad so I want to love him. He beats his step daughter yet it is clear he wants nothing but greatness from her. In my opinion is he a piece of shit who is trying to do right, but I would like the opinion of someone involved in his creation. Thanks so much! Also why I have your attention, I love the junkyard smash scene so much it is amazing!" DeckNineWriters: "This is a great question. Each of us in the writer's room have differing feelings about David, which is a testament to the kind of character he is. That being said, with very few exceptions, we've found that to write a character well, we have to immerse ourselves in their point of view, which usually means we end up developing sympathy for characters we may have originally hated. While we don't excuse David's behavior, we strive to see him as a human being." Every1IsSoFlammable: "One of the highlights of the game for me involved the band Daughter scoring the soundtrack. Not knowing much about how these collaborations work, I was really curious how much each side influenced the flow/story cues of the game, especially since they said in interviews that they only had the script to work with (and visual style from playing the first game). How did you find Daughter, and how finalized was the script when they came aboard? Was each song written specifically for the scenes they appeared in, or did they have the freedom to write songs and it changed how you originally directed scenes? How does the collaborative process go? Kind of a "did you adjust the song for the scene or the other way around" question. The song used for the initial (E3) trailer as well as the Episode 1 intro, for example, was from their previous album (and fit beautifully). I'm sure you have experience with composers providing music back when you were Idle Hands studios, but with how important music is to a narrative like this, how you got everything just right. More than any game or movie I've seen, I can only admire how tightly they fit and that I can't imagine the game without the soundtrack and vice versa." DeckNineWriters: "Hi there! Chris Floyd (co-director) and Chuck Carr (audio director) were the ones who found and worked directly with Daughter, so we'll answer as best we can remember from what we saw of the process. Daughter came on board when the full outline of the 3 episodes was complete. They wrote pieces specifically to go with major themes in the script. Furthermore, they wrote versions of each track with more or less intensity, so that Chuck could fit the tracks precisely to the game once the cinematics and animation were finished. We (the writers) actually had access to early versions of most of the score, so we often listened as we wrote!" Gralew: "Hello I'd like to know why you decided to put the tempest to the game, personally it was my favorite part of before the storm. Thanks for creating such a greater game!" DeckNineWriters: "Hey, excited to start answering some sweet Qs! We can thank Zak for that great idea. There are lots of interesting similarities between the play and LiS/BtS (like the storm), and we thought casting Rachel as Prospero was a subtle way to talk about who she is as a person. Plus it's one of our favorite Shakespeare plays." AuraWarrior: "Did you ever talk about/consider an "alternate" ending to the game that would diverge from the story we know about in the original Life is Strange? Would that have even been a direction you'd have been interested in taking the story at all? And, perhaps mostly importantly, when can we expect the full D&D session spinoff installment of BtS?" DeckNineWriters: "Let's just say, we learned a lot about prequels while writing BtS. Ultimately, we felt that the power of a successful prequel comes from its predetermination--everyone knows where the story must end up, but hopefully we get to surprise and move you along the way. And of course, we revere LiS 1 and wanted to honor it with our story. But did we dream about somehow giving Chloe and Rachel happy endings? We're not monsters! Speaking of dreaming, tabletop spinoff sounds great, but what about a full Arcadia Bay LARP?" axslayer33: "Hey guys! I'm a closet fan of the first game, liked the second one as well, but I had one glaring question It's often been discussed that parts of Episode 3 seemed...off. Like plot lines that were developed we're then forgotten about (i.e Samantha) and other character-based changes came out of left field (i.e. Elliot). Was there a push from Square Enix/Dontnod that forced development to move faster than preferable, thus leading to the writing issues?" DeckNineWriters: "Episode 3 was subject to normal production constraints, which is always faster than preferable. As for Elliot, we actually intended for him to be dangerous from the start, but had to write him so that Chloe would have considered him relatively harmless. Maybe we hid his tendencies too well!" Janoshz: "Hello! First off, thank you for making such a great game. You really captured the feeling of the first game and also gave it your own kind of twist. Top job :) I do have some questions. Some have wondered about Chloe's driving skills. I'm not from the US, but I know you're allowed to drive at sixteen. Chloe seems like a competent driver with some mechanic skills as well. I would also think that the truck is not the easiest to operate. Is there some background to Chloe's driving abilities? Scene with Chloe and Sera at the end seems like a dream sequence at the start. Many Youtubers have also mentioned this right off the bat in their playthroughs. Was this intentional? Of course Chloe's been kicked on the head so she might not be as aware. Also, what, if any, is William's secret? That he might have lied about? :) That's it for me. Thank you again for writing one of the best stories in gaming and I really hope that we will see Arcadia Bay again someday. Cheers" DeckNineWriters: "Thank you so much! :) 1) Chloe has a little bit of mechanical skill from working with her dad, and quite a bit from watching David -- though she won't admit it. As for her driving, here's a quote from the script: "Chloe slams on the gas, spinning the tires, kicking up dirt. Finally she shoots forward, weaving erratically, narrowly missing other cars and objects. The thought may occur: does Chloe even know how to drive?" (Side note: we'd like to think William used to let her steer :D) 2) It wasn't intentional, although it WAS supposed to be extremely disorienting for Chloe, who has been knocked out for hours. (Sera has come off her high by then, which could contribute to the feeling of disconnect.) 3) We purposefully did not discuss in the writer's room what William's secrets might be, because the point of the scene was that Chloe doesn't -- and won't ever -- know. We like keeping it a secret even from ourselves." MercyWasHere: "Hey there, first of all thank you for all the hard work you guys and gals have put into making this amazing game. I just have one question here. In episode 3 we can observe that Chloe mainly had a solo adventure while Rachel was recovering in the hospital. Why did you guys chose to go with this narrative and did the team considered finishing the episode with both Rachel and Chloe saving Sera?" DeckNineWriters: "So that was a big decision for us, one that we didn't take lightly. We loved giving players and Chloe the chance to be with Rachel as much as possible, because we love her and she's a fucking dragon. But we also really wanted Chloe to have a chance to be the hero, and oftentimes being the hero means you have to face the villain alone. Chloe and Rachel are wonderful together, but Chloe is also an incredible person in her own right, and part of BtS is her journey to discover that herself." dexterlab97: "1. Favorite moment from BtS? 2. Favorite line from BtS? 3. Favorite character from BtS? 4. Favorite song from BtS?" DeckNineWriters: "1) Mal: The moment where Rachel initially goes off book. I've spent enough time on stage to know how scary that is, and Chloe's reaction always cracks me up. Everything that comes after is pretty great too. Jon: The train scene. Felice: The junkyard smash scene, ending with Chloe on the ground. 2) Mal: "All's fair in love and tabletop". Jon: "Mole people" Felice: "I'm YOUR district attorney." 3) Mal: Steph. Duh. Jon: The player, for she is the most important character of all. JK, Steph. Felice: I refuse to be a sheep. SKIP! 4) Mal: No Below by Speedy Ortiz! We hear it in Chloe's bedroom in episode 1, and I think it really captures where she is right in that moment. Jon: Black Flies is the one stuck in my head atm, but I truly love the whole soundtrack. Felice: "No Care" or "Burn it Down"" avn_21: "Hi guys, as a young writer myself, I have a couple of questions for you. What do you believe to be the most attractive quality a writer should possess, and, in your opinion, how much of an edge (if any) do you think university degrees give prospective writers in gaming? I was a big fan of your choice to use 'The Tempest' in this game. At what point did you decide on 'The Tempest' as a recurring motif in Before the Storm? Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, and for your fantastic work on Before the Storm. I'll make sure to keep an eye out for your future projects! Have a lovely day, and make sure to go outside. After all, it's lovely Rachel we're having. I mean, weather! It's nice weather. 0_o" DeckNineWriters: "A good writer needs to be able to listen to others' notes. If you're receiving feedback on your work, listen, write down what you're hearing, and don't take it personally. If you don't understand a note, get clarity. Now this isn't to say that you should act on every note you receive, in fact you shouldn't, because they won't all be right. But what you should do is think about them all critically, as they all represent a chance to learn. As for your second question, we can only share about our writer's room. One of us is currently an undergrad, one of us started working in games before he went to college (he now has a BA), one of us has an MFA in filmmaking and another has an MFA in writing." ThreadOfFate: "Thanks for coming by, y'all! I've got a few questions. What part of BTS that you worked on are you most proud of? Is there a favorite line or situation you concocted? What're your favorite sandwiches? Being able to look back on the completed product, what advice would you have for your past self that was just sitting down to start on BTS?" DeckNineWriters: "1) Jon: Pretty proud of the junkyard smashing sequence. Felice: I'm proud of the kiss scene :) Mal: The left/right bit in Farewell turned out pretty well 2) Jon: Hotdogs. Felice: Asparagus spears with Philly cream cheese. Mal: Anything with pesto on it! 3) Jon: Savor every day, every collaboration, every insurmountable challenge, every unlikely triumph. The game belongs to the players, but the experience of making it is yours alone. Felice: I used to agonize over every word, but then found that when I just went for it, the scene had more energy and truth. I can probably thank Chloe for that good influence! Mal: Relax, this is a real thing. It's not a dream, you won't wake up. You got this." APL_amber: "How do you deal with the horrible, but common circumstance of changing or discarding your ideas in the process? What keeps you going through the moments like that when some of your best pieces of creation had to be alternated to fit the schedule or budget? Do you, as the writers, have a special way of dealing with such issues or had you never experience them before?" DeckNineWriters: "We have a really great team, both in the writers room, and in Deck Nine as a whole. Everyone here has told us multiple times that "the story is what matters" while staring down late nights and working weekends to make it happen. All this is to say, everyone here is dedicated to making the game as good as we can make it. So when it comes time to cut things out, because making games can be brutal sometimes, we always do it with with care and thought, and notably without ego. So yeah, it sucks when your *brilliant* side plot idea has to go so that a main plot scene can get more polish time, but it sucks a lot less knowing that the game will be better for it." ecalogiaAre: "Hey Deck Nine! Thanks for delivering such a wonderful and affecting prequel to my favorite game series of all-time. :) One of my favorite new characters in BtS is Steph Gingrich, who also serves as kind of a queer role model for Chloe coming to understand her feelings at the start of the game. In earlier drafts of the story, was there ever a more pronounced "I'm gay" exchange between Steph and Chloe as she explores her feelings for Rachel, or was it always something that Chloe knew about but never stated outright? How did the team decide to handle just how explicitly Chloe's queerness would be reflected in the dialogue?" DeckNineWriters: "From the beginning, we intended Chloe to be in the self-discovery stage of her queerness (you can see this in her journal entry). Therefore, Steph was a role model, even if Chloe wasn't totally conscious of it. We hoped the contrast between Steph and Chloe would be true to a wide range of experiences." FadingShad0ws: "Did you ever cry when writing the story and script?" DeckNineWriters: "Felice: Yes. Jon: Yes. Mal: No. I am a stone" finneganishome: "I am SO amazed by you guys, I'm hoping to be writers like you someday! Here are my questions: Where did your idea/s of time travel originated from (to produce this story)? How can you say you made a good plot, generally? What are the 'downs' that happened during the creation of the game? Where did your ideas of the characters in the game came from/ inspired from? And, what's the secret to making the choices hard/harder? Thank you so much! Your answers would mean so much to me. Right after I finished the game I quickly thought about you guys because it was such an overwhelming experience to get to play LiS." DeckNineWriters: "Hey there! We'll focus on the last one for now. We've found that the toughest choices we can come up with are the ones that make us say "How the hell are we going to write ourselves out of this?" If a choice makes us reconsider our story plans and sweat to fit it in, it's probably going to mean something for the player. Good luck to you with your writing!" SerratedCucumberz: "How did you come up with some of the jokes? En fuego utero, Cunsn/FUCKU, etc" DeckNineWriters: "We don't have any answers for those specific jokes, but a good number of them have come from us horsing around in the room, joking about what the line could be and then realizing "That's it. That's the line..."" Christofferoff: "Love you guys and love the game you made. It was amazing. You should all feel very proud. How did you decide which characters from the original game you should take to BTS versus which are only in the original?" DeckNineWriters: "Thank you so much! Our major deciding factor was probably which chracters helped Chloe along her journey in the most impactful ways. So whereas Warren played a major role for Max, he might not have meant as much to Chloe. Victoria, on the other hand, intersected perfectly with everything Chloe was going through. P.S. We love your flair!" Coh_: "Why do you guys have weird hipster snacks? Question by Chris Floyd on Twitter." DeckNineWriters: "If dark chocolate coated wasabi peas are weird, we don't want to be normal." Nemeblubb: "First of all, congratulations on your recent win of the Webby awards, as well as the all important /u/Nemeblubb's heart award. With that out of the way, I do realize that I'm breaching a huge topic, so I don't expect you guys to go into detail with this, but nonetheless: Where do you see the greatest difference between writing for traditional forms of media and writing for interactive media and what is the greatest challenge that comes along with it? Thank you very much for your time and thank you for being involved in what I consider a milestone in interactive storytelling, one that has inspired large parts of the dissertation I'm working on." DeckNineWriters: "Mal here! This is a really good question! For me, the hardest part is making sure every branch and possibility make sense for the journey I want the character (and player!) to go on. Both options need to forward the character on their arc in the right way, even though the options are opposed to each other and create different consequences." viinit: "why did you make us cry?" DeckNineWriters: "We made ourselves cry too! Well, except for Mal." Unanswered Questions TBA References Category:Interviews (Before the Storm)